Learning to fly: RC flying club will celebrate Father’s Day
OVFC member Ken Smith shows new member Robert Fortino how to use radio controls to produce a roll with the plane.
On Saturday, June 14, the Oldtown Valley Flyers Club will hold a public fly day at its air strip in Wilkshire Hills. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., dads and others can learn to fly a radio-controlled model aircraft using members’ planes.
Club members will serve as flight instructors to teach all adults and kids age 6 and older how to take off, fly and land an RC plane.
“We wanted to have the event early enough this year so people could have the rest of the summer to learn how to fly,” said Robert Draman, president of the OVFC.
This will be the first open fly day held by the club since moving their airfield to Wilkshire Hills a few years ago.
Last year the club added a 30-by-15-foot strip of geotextile fabric to the airfield to make for smoother landings and takeoffs. According to Draman, they also lengthened the airfield by about a quarter of an acre to provide ample room for landing larger RC planes.
Family fun
Chris Smith and his father Ken Smith are members who got involved with the hobby after attending an OVFC public fly day.
“My dad and I, we do everything together,” said Chris Smith, who admitted he is more of a collector than a flyer at this time. “Between my job and having four kids, it’s hard to get out to fly.”
Chris Smith said he has collected about 15 RC planes including balsa models and both electric and gas-powered planes.
Ken Smith, who had an RC plane he flew about 45 years ago, has been a member of the OVFC for about two years.
“It’s just a lot of fun,” Ken Smith said. “And the people you meet there are willing to give you a hand and help you get better at it. Since I can’t get a real plane, I do this.”
Ken Smith said he owns about seven planes currently.
“Mostly, I like the Carbon Cub planes. I tried to fly one of my other planes, and I crashed it, and then I just crashed another one the other day. There’s no sense getting mad over it, though. It’s just part of the game.”
Robert Masters holds a private pilot’s license, and for him, things have come full circle.
“I started with RC planes back in the late ‘60s,” he said. “I flew for a year or two, and then I started skydiving. Then I went from skydiving to flying the full-size stuff, and then I quit flying the full-size planes and went back to radio control about five years ago.”
Both Masters and Ken Smith commented on the difference between the RC planes of the 1960s and those manufactured today.
“Before, the planes were all gasoline,” Masters said. “When I got back into it about five years ago, almost everything was electric.”
Ken Smith said today’s planes are much easier to fly.
“Almost anybody could fly one on the safe mode because it won’t let you wreck. Then they have the intermediate and open modes for more experienced flyers, but if you get in trouble, all you have to do is flip it back to safe and the plane will automatically straighten up,” he said.
Swap meet
“This is the first time we’ve tried adding a swap meet to the public fly day,” Draman said. “We’re hoping there will be a good amount of planes and other equipment available for sale or trade.”
Attending a swap meet also introduces people to many of the components of the hobby.
“People can learn about family projects that children and parents can do together,” Draman said. “And often, you can pick up an RC plane at about half the price of a new one.”
The OVFC is located at 10141 Wilkshire Blvd. in Bolivar, directly across Arrowhead from the Massarelli Baseball Complex.